The Falangist Christian militia killed the Palestinians at Sabra & Shatilla.

I have visited Israel for extended periods and driven all over the country. The vast majority of the West Bank is not occupied, it is under the control of the Palestinian govt. The Israelis have a fence and checkpoints up, to keep out terrorists. But they dont walk around the territories with guns, in fact very few Israelis, military or not, go there at all. Any areas with soldiers are only where and when violence is expected to happen. Gaza has not been occupied since the Israelis pulled out their settlements in 2006, under Sharon. Same story with the fence and checkpoints.

When real negotiations actually happen, there will be land-swaps, as advised under UN R 242, with the goal of making each country’s border smoother so no one has to drive out of their way to get to an area nearby, as well as making the borders defensible. At its narrowest point Israel is 15 miles wide. it takes 20 min to drive from one side to the other, even with traffic lights. I’ve done it.

On the subject of occupying land… funny this conversation was in Nablus. For centuries Nablus was the Jewish town of Shechem, until the Jews were all ethnically cleansed. Same with Hebron and Jericho. Hebron was Jewish until 1929 when an Arab massacre plus indifference to it by the British rulers drove the Jews out. And of course the Babylonians, Romans, Muslims, and Christians occupied Israel and drove the Jews out numerous times.